Board to revisit MiraCosta president's raise

The MiraCosta College board on Tuesday will discuss whether President Francisco Rodriguez received an unauthorized raise in 2009, contributing to his position as the top-compensated community college district leader in the county.

When Rodriguez started working for the district in March 2009, his contract as approved by the board placed his base salary at $256,208 through June 30, 2010. Four months later, when the faculty received a 1 percent raise, Rodriguez began receiving a salary of $258,771, which he has collected ever since.

The administration says his pay was linked to the faculty's, but none of the board’s agendas or minutes from that time period indicate Rodriguez was getting a raise. After approving raises for faculty and other employee groups, the records show the board at that time approved raises for each individual dean and vice president — but not for Rodriguez.

Yes
62% (50)

No
38% (31)

81 total votes.

MiraCosta board member Ron Ruud said the district’s board was unaware of the raise until three years later. He told The Watchdog he believes Rodriguez should not have received the raise and that even if he should have received it, the board never approved it as required at a public meeting.

Ruud, who formerly worked as an attorney representing school districts, said Rodriguez’s salary should be reduced back to $256,208 and he should pay back all of the excess funds he received over more than three years, including increases to his benefits as a result of the higher pay.

“Since there is no evidence that the board ever authorized a salary increase and, further, that the public ever had notice of such an increase, my position has always been that the salary being paid be reduced to conform to the contract and all overpayments since July 1, 2009, be repaid,” Ruud said.

The Watchdog noticed the discrepancy following its December report that found Rodriguez received the greatest compensation of any community college district leader in the county, as the leader of the smallest community college district in the county. His total compensation in 2012 was $314,574, including $19,500 in cellphone, car and business expense allowances, $18,114 in pension contributions and $18,189 in health insurance premiums.

When approached for comment from Rodriguez, his spokeswoman, Cheryl Broom, said it was a board issue and suggested calling board President David Broad. She said the matter will be discussed in closed session Tuesday, and any decision made regarding the president’s contract will be shared with the public when the regular board meeting starts at 3 p.m. She said that the higher pay was a cost-of-living adjustment, not a raise.

Broad, like Ruud, was not on the board when Rodriguez’s contract was approved. He said when Rodriguez was hired the district had historically tied the raises of its president to the faculty’s raises. Broad said Rodriguez should have received the raise when the faculty did, but said it was unclear to him whether the board properly ratified the raise after notifying the public.

“The 1 percent raise went to everybody on the academic salary schedule. He was on the academic schedule, he received it,” Broad said. “The ambiguity is whether that was enough reporting, of public reporting. That’s where I see the ambiguity.”